Recycled desalination membranes as a support material for biofilm development: A new approach for microcystin removal during water treatment

Morón-López, Jesús; Nieto-Reyes, Lucía; Senán-Salinas, Jorge; Molina, Serena; El-Shehawy, Rehab

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.435

Cited by 42 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Apart from these, the EoL membranes can be employed in other application like utilizing in membrane biofilm reactor. Morón-López et al used EoL RO membrane as the support for biofilm formation to selectively remove microcystins [13]. Chemical conversion is the chemical removal of ultrathin top layer and conversion of EoL membrane into microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes [6,[14][15][16][17][18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

End-of-life RO membranes recycling: Reuse as NF membranes by polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer deposition

Moradi

Pihlajamäki

Hesampour

et al. 2019

Journal of Membrane Science

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Nowadays, end-of-life (EoL) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes are considered as waste, hence they are incinerated or discarded in landfills. Due to the environmental problem of disposed membranes, their reuse as nanofiltration (NF) membranes was studied in this study. At first, the fouling of EoL membrane was cleaned and then the effect of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) on removing the polyamide (PA) layer and pure water permeability (PWP) of EoL membranes was investigated. With regard to NaOCl exposure intensities, three groups of EoL membranes with PWP of about 10, 20, and 30 L/(m 2 h bar) were selected as substrates to convert them to NF membranes by deposition of polyelectrolyte (PE) multilayers. The effects of PE type, substrate permeability, and the charge of outer layer on the performance of the resultant NF membranes were studied. As one of the best results, NF membrane composed of eight bilayers of SC498/KE253 polyelectrolytes on substrates with PWP of 18 L/(m 2 h bar) had salt water permeability (SWP) of 11 L/(m 2 h bar) and 94% rejection of MgSO 4 . Other results are also competitive with commercial NF membranes. The maximum NaCl and MgSO 4 rejection of prepared membranes were 92% and 98%, respectively, at a feed pressure of 10 bar. In addition, the stability test showed that the prepared membranes are stable over a long period of filtration.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

End-of-life RO membranes recycling: Reuse as NF membranes by polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer deposition

Moradi

Pihlajamäki

Hesampour

et al. 2019

Journal of Membrane Science

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“…Consequently, most end-of-life (EoL) membranes are disposed of in landfills without considering other management alternatives, in contrast with the circular economy principles set by the European Commission [9]. In this context, research studies are reported on implementing novel reverse osmosis (RO) membrane recycling/reuse strategies, following the circular economy approach [10][11][12][13][14]. Until now, the research and development of such recycled membranes have focused on verifying their feasibility and suitability for diverse processes, such as (i) direct reuse as RO membranes [10], (ii) direct recycling of EoL RO membranes as nanofiltration (NF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes [11], (iii) use as a support for biofilm-membrane reactors [12], and (iv) indirect recycling as membrane support for ion exchange electrodialysis membranes [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, research studies are reported on implementing novel reverse osmosis (RO) membrane recycling/reuse strategies, following the circular economy approach [10][11][12][13][14]. Until now, the research and development of such recycled membranes have focused on verifying their feasibility and suitability for diverse processes, such as (i) direct reuse as RO membranes [10], (ii) direct recycling of EoL RO membranes as nanofiltration (NF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes [11], (iii) use as a support for biofilm-membrane reactors [12], and (iv) indirect recycling as membrane support for ion exchange electrodialysis membranes [13]. Recycling processes have also been tested at a pilot scale and validated in water treatment facilities [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Novel Application of Recycled Ultrafiltration Membranes in an Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor (aMBR): A Proof-of-Concept Study

et al. 2022

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The use of recycled ultrafiltration (r-UF) membranes, originating from end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes, as submerged flat-sheet membranes in an aerobic membrane bioreactor (aMBR) system is described herein for the first time. A feasibility study of this new approach was performed in a laboratory-scale aMBR system. The r-UF membrane performance was evaluated in terms of permeability, fouling behavior, and permeate quality using a widely used commercial flat sheet microfiltration membrane (c-MF) as a reference. Tests were conducted under steady-flux operation (at 12 and 14 L·m−2·h−1) and a variable trans-membrane pressure. Synthetic wastewater simulating urban wastewater characteristics with approx. 0.4–0.5 g/L COD concentration was used as the feed. The obtained results showed that the rejection performance of the r-UF membrane was similar to the performance of the commercial flat sheet microfiltration membrane (c-MF) under comparable operating conditions. Moreover, concerning fouling behavior, the r-UF membrane exhibited higher fouling resistance compared with the c-MF membrane, although the permeability decline rate was lower. Both membranes had comparable fouling mechanisms behavior, with cake layer fouling resistance accounting for approx. 60% of the total fouling resistance. Finally, a preliminary economic assessment pointed out the potential competitiveness of using r-UF membranes for aMBRs (5.9–10.9 EUR·m−2) and the scaling-up challenges toward industrial applications.

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“…Then, an active PA layer is formed on the porous PSf layer by interfacial polymerization technique [ 12 ]. This type of RO membrane was recycled using PA oxidizing agents such as sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) to fully or partially degrade the PA layer responsible of irreversible fouling [ 8 , 10 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. By applying different exposure doses to the oxidizing agent, quantified by units of parts per million of NaOCl used in the cleaning solution multiplied by the exposure time in hours (ppm·h), discarded RO membranes have been transformed to membranes for microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF) or nanofiltration (NF) separation processes [ 10 , 13 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 23 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By applying different exposure doses to the oxidizing agent, quantified by units of parts per million of NaOCl used in the cleaning solution multiplied by the exposure time in hours (ppm·h), discarded RO membranes have been transformed to membranes for microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF) or nanofiltration (NF) separation processes [ 10 , 13 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 23 ]. In other research studies, after exposing the RO modules to NaClO oxidizing aqueous solution, the membranes were transformed to anion or cation exchanged membranes for electrodialysis (ED) or to microsystin-degrading biofilms for membrane bioreactors by applying adequate approaches [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 24 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrospun Nanostructured Membrane Engineering Using Reverse Osmosis Recycled Modules: Membrane Distillation Application

2021

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As a consequence of the increase in reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants, the number of discarded RO modules for 2020 was estimated to be 14.8 million annually. Currently, these discarded modules are disposed of in nearby landfills generating high volumes of waste. In order to extend their useful life, in this research study, we propose recycling and reusing the internal components of the discarded RO modules, membranes and spacers, in membrane engineering for membrane distillation (MD) technology. After passive cleaning with a sodium hypochlorite aqueous solution, these recycled components were reused as support for polyvinylidene fluoride nanofibrous membranes prepared by electrospinning technique. The prepared membranes were characterized by different techniques and, finally, tested in desalination of high saline solutions (brines) by direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). The effect of the electrospinning time, which is the same as the thickness of the nanofibrous layer, was studied in order to optimize the permeate flux together with the salt rejection factor and to obtain robust membranes with stable DCMD desalination performance. When the recycled RO membrane or the permeate spacer were used as supports with 60 min electrospinning time, good permeate fluxes were achieved, 43.2 and 18.1 kg m−2 h−1, respectively; with very high salt rejection factors, greater than 99.99%. These results are reasonably competitive compared to other supported and unsupported MD nanofibrous membranes. In contrast, when using the feed spacer as support, inhomogeneous structures were observed on the electrospun nanofibrous layer due to the special characteristics of this spacer resulting in low salt rejection factors and mechanical properties of the electrospun nanofibrous membrane.

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Recycled desalination membranes as a support material for biofilm development: A new approach for microcystin removal during water treatment

Cited by 42 publications

References 38 publications

End-of-life RO membranes recycling: Reuse as NF membranes by polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer deposition

End-of-life RO membranes recycling: Reuse as NF membranes by polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer deposition

A Novel Application of Recycled Ultrafiltration Membranes in an Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor (aMBR): A Proof-of-Concept Study

Electrospun Nanostructured Membrane Engineering Using Reverse Osmosis Recycled Modules: Membrane Distillation Application

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